Golf putting game



Oct. 22, 1957 T. o1- s 2,810,580

GOLF PUTTING GAME Filed March 25, 1955 INVENTOR. 7/10/1445 0. JOHNSOM ATTOE/VEYS.

United States Patent.

GOLF PUTTING GAME Thomas C. Johnson, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Application March 25, 1955, SerialNo. 496,7 85

1 Claim. Cl. 273-180) This invention relates to game boards or panels and more particularly to a golf putting game adapted to be placed on a floor, carpet, rug or on the ground and to be used in practicing golf putting, and which may be used in the playing of a competitive game.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device of simple, durable construction which can be manufactured at relatively low cost and which can be used in any convenient place, either indoors or outdoors to practice golf putting and to enhance such practice between two or more players by adding a competitive nature to the game.

Another object of this invention is to provide a game board for use with a golf ball to be putted thereon in which the board may be approached from any side thereof and in which the ball when putted thereon will either be contained in one of the pockets in the board or will roll off the board onto the supporting surface.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a device of the type described in which a plurality of object holes or pockets are so arranged as to permit a golf ball, when accurately putted to be received within these holes or pockets and which holes will be numbered consistent with the degree of skill and accuracy required to have the golf ball come to rest therein so that a score may be kept and the skill of the most accomplished player accurately determined.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, forming the specification, and taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a top plan view of the golf putting game board embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof; and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along line 33 of Figure l and looking in the direction of the arrows.

With continued reference to the drawings, there is shown a game board, generally indicated at 10, which may be made of any suitable sheet material and is substantially triangular in outline.

The peripheral edges of the game board are beveled downwardly and outwardly, as at 12, to permit ready rolling of a golf ball putted toward the board to roll over the peripheral edges and onto the upper face 14 of the board.

The corners of the game board are arcuately, concavely formed as at 16, 18 and 20 with the periphery thereof being downwardly and outwardly beveled. The inclination of the corner portions 16, 18, 20 from the horizontal is substantially greater than that of the top surface, as will be readily seen from Figures 2 and 3, and it will also be noted that a line drawn radially from the center point of the game board, such as the section line 3-3, intersects the corner portion toward which it is drawn medially between the opposite ends of said corner portion.

The lower face 22 of the game board carries at its mid-point location a block 24 with the game board so ICC molded as to incline downwardly and outwardly from the center portion to provide a gentle slopein all directions from the central portion of the board. This will permit a golf ball, when putted onto the board, to roll over the upper face 14 thereof and toward one of the peripheral edges.

The game board 10 is provided with a plurality of openings 26 transversely therethrough and arranged in spaced concentric relation about the center portion of the board. These openings are identified by a numeral 28 placed adjacent each of the circular openings 26. The numerals 28 are placed upon the upper face 14 within a crescent-shaped colored area 30 surrounding each of the openings 26 with the heaviest or thickest portion of the area extending toward the adjacent peripheral edge of the board. This area is conveniently colored to provide a player with a target. The openings 26 are so arranged as to be the ultimate target, and the numeral 28 is preferably 0.

Positioned centrally at each of the corners 16, 18 and 20 is a triangular sight 32 with one point of the triangle touching the periphery of the associated corner. A player desiring to gain the best possible score will align the ball with the point of the painted sight 32 since the center line through the sight is in alignment with the center of the board, so that the ball, if given the proper amount of impetus, will clear the elongated closed slots 34, transversely through the board, and come'to rest in the openings' or pockets 26. The slots 34 have their longitudinal axes coincident with the line through the center of the sight 32 and the center of the board 10.

The slots 34, defining golf ball receiving pockets, have identifying indicia 36 placed adjacent thereto at the end thereof most closely adjacent the corresponding corner of the board. The identifying indicia 36 is in the form of an Arabic numeral I placed within a crescentshaped area 38. The area 38 is preferably of a color different than the color of the similar areas 30.

Arranged in parallel rows on opposite sides of each of the slots 34, are a plurality of spaced golf ball receiving openings 40, 42 and 44 transversely through the game board and extending in alignment with one of the golf ball receiving openings or pockets 26 and extending toward the periphery of the board. The openings 40, 42 and 44 are identified by Arabic numerals 2, 3 and 4 on the upper face 14 of the game board adjacent respective openings 40, 42 and 44. These indicia are identified at 46, 48 and 50 respectively, with each of these numeral indicia disposed within a crescent-shaped area 52, 54 and 56 respectively, with each of these areas being of a different color and different from the colors of the areas 30 and 38.

Another golf ball receiving opening or pocket 58 is provided transversely through the game board adjacent its peripheral edge and centrally intermediate the corners 16, 18 and 20, so that three such openings 58 are provided. Each of the openings 58 is identified by suitable indicia 60 in the form of an Arabic numeral 3. Each of the indicia or numerals 60 is placed within a crescentshaped area 62 which is the same color as the areas 54 since these golf ball receiving openings or pockets 58 are of the same scoring value as the openings or pockets 42.

The game board 10 is to be placed on a supporting surface 64 so that it lies flatly thereon with the peripheral edges of the game board and the bottom surface of the block 24 resting upon the supporting surface. The supporting surface may be a floor, rug, carpet, ground, etc.

In the use of the game board and in the playing of the game, the accuracy and amount of impetus imparted to a golf ball in putting the same can be determined by the resulting score since the golf ball will either come to rest in one of the pockets or openings transversely through the golf game board or in the elongated slots 34 or will roll otf the board without having come to rest in any of these pockets. Where the ball comes to rest in a particular pocket or in the slot-like pocket 34, the indicia represented by an arabic numeral will give the score achieved by the player. The player with the lowest score will be declared the winner. Therefore, the object of the game is to place the golf ball, by putting same with the conventional type of golf putter, so that the golf ball will come to rest in the pockets 26. These pockets -rep resent a hole-in-one and carry no score penalty for the player. The openings or pockets 26 may he gained by the player by his lining up the golf ball with the sight 32 and imparting sufficient impetus to the ball to clear the slot-like pocket 34 in line therewith so that the ball will gently roll into one of the pockets: 26. If the game of the player is off to one side or the other, his score will be correspondingly higher. In the event that the player imparts such impetus to the ball as to prevent it from resting in any of the pockets in the game board, he may be penalized a score greater than any of the Arabic numerals appearing on the game board.

Thus, it will be seen that the game will enhance the accuracyof the player and may be used as a home putting practice device as well as a competitive game to be played 5 indoors or upon a small lawn.

While there is shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the structure is susceptible to change and modification within the practicability of the invention and therefore should be limited only by the scope of the claim appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

A golf putting game comprising: a game board hava 4 ing the outer configuration of an equilateral triangle and formed with a top surface having a slight inclination from the horizontal downward in all directions from the center point of the board to its peripheral edge, said surface having a plurality of openings arrayed about said center point diiferent distances from the peripheral edge of the board, said edge being formed with portions at the corners of the triangle each of which is bowed toward the center point of the board in. a curving path intersected medially between its ends by a line drawn radially from said center point to the center about which said path is curved, said portions of the peripheral edge having an inclination from the horizontal greater than thatof said top surface, said openings including a first group of openings triangularly spaced about the center point of the board in close proximity thereto with each opening of said group aligned radially of said center point with one of said portions of the peripheral edge, at least one of the remaining openings of said top surfaace being dis: posed between an opening of said group and the corner portion with which the opening of said group is aligned.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED'STATES PATENTS 1,874,873 Boye Aug. 30, 1932 V FOREIGN PATENTS 7,733 Great Britain 1909 9,527 Great Britain 1912 418,046 Great Britain Oct. 17, 1934 

